ISSN (Print) - 0012-9976 | ISSN (Online) - 2349-8846

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Articles by Vineeta BalSubscribe to Vineeta Bal

Statement of Scientists

The scientific community is deeply concerned with the climate of intolerance, and the ways in which science and reason are being eroded in the country. It is the same climate of intolerance, and rejection of reason that has led to the lynching in Dadri of Mohammad Akhlaq Saifi and the...

Use of 'Foeticide'

We write to express our surprise, indeed dismay, at the use of the word foeticide in your editorial "Life-giving Leadership" (EPW, 23 June 2012). This word belongs to the arsenal of the religious right, in the United States in parti­cular, the so-called pro-life groups, who seek to deny women the...

Women Scientists in India

Despite the increase in the number of women scientists in biology, gender-based disadvantages in a patriarchal culture continue to be the order of the day. Establishment of gender-unbiased, transparent criteria for approval of project proposals, selection of candidates for jobs, and nomination to decision-making positions may go some way towards correcting this situation.

Gendered Science

Although the number of women scientists has grown over the decades in India as elsewhere, there is little evidence that they occupy the space that they deserve, nor receive due recognition. Subtle and not so subtle barriers continue to operate against women in science. Increasingly also, in some fields they have become targets of scientific investigation for reasons far removed from science.

Injectable Contraceptives

In the context of the increasing privatisation of health care and the involvement of private practitioners and clinics in the state family planning programme, the possible introduction of an injectable contraceptive in the programme is worrying.

Population Growth and Coercive Controls

While policies aimed at controlling population have become marginally more sensitive to people's needs, they continue to ignore serious health and welfare issues, particularly of women. The case of injectable contraceptives, their development, promotion and use, illustrates this.

Immunology, Feminism and Anti-Fertility Vaccines

Anti-Fertility Vaccines Vineeta Bal Asking for a ban on all further research on anti-fertility vaccines is neither necessary nor rational. OF late there has been a lot of discussion in various form about the utility and potential for misuse of anti-fertility vaccines. Like many other debatable issues related to contraception' the immunological approach for the control of fertility has generated a lot of discussion and controversy. People involved in policy-making and feminist activists are the two main groups arguing over the acceptability or otherwise of anti-fertility vaccines as potential candidates for mass-scale use of population control. Judith Richter, a pharmacist and social scientist, has addressed this controversial issue in her monograph Vaccination against Pregnancy: Miracle or Menace?[1]. The monograph attempts to discuss the social and immunological issues involved in immunological contraceptives. Richter has been actively involved in investigating various contraceptive devices, mainly Norplant and more recently, immunological contraceptives, from a consumer's perspective.
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